Instantor's Blog

This year has been named by Forbes as ‘the year of open APIs’. The implementation of open APIs in all sectors of the financial industry (FI) from banks to FinTechs has exploded around the world. FIs and governments are evaluating how open APIs can encourage industry openness and competitiveness, whilst simultaneously providing consumers with better user experiences.

The name of the game is Open Banking and the UK has been a leader in this expanding global movement: there are already over 22 jurisdictions across the world that have begun to consider, or have implemented their own Open Banking initiative.

In 2018, a concerning 60% of consumers in Sweden abandoned their financial applications. What is even more worrying is that this number has been increasing globally over the past few years. For example in the UK, the number of applicants who abandoned applications leapt from 40% in 2016 to 56% in 2018.

Brand loyalty is decreasing as consumers show a willingness to jump ship in search of the easiest application process. Established financial service institutions can no longer rely solely on consumer trust in an industry that seems to be disrupted daily by the latest tech solutions from challengers and start-ups.

For many of the world’s poorest countries, financial inclusion is a big problem. Large numbers of people have trouble just getting a bank account, let alone access to credit – particularly in non-OECD countries like Colombia, Ukraine and Vietnam, just to name a few.

Recent developments, such as the European Union’s 4th AML Directive, highlight the challenges faced by financial institutions in ensuring KYC compliance in a continuously evolving regulatory landscape. It is now required that European companies disclose information regarding the beneficial owners. However, it’s extremely difficult to create best practices that multinational financial institutions can follow.

We were asked to give a talk at Almi HQ in Stockholm, where a banking delegation was taking place with CEO’s of venture firms and startups from all over Europe. The idea was for us to represent a northern perspective of the tech-sector, with ‘digitalisation’ as the theme. Here at Instantor, we take pride in being a part of supporting the tech-community to grow, share knowledge and challenge one another. In other words, that was of course something we were happy to do.